Stephen Colbert says CBS blocked him from having a rising Democratic star on The Late Show to avoid making Donald Trump “cranky.”
Colbert said he was told “in no uncertain terms” that he could not feature Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat running to flip Republican John Cornyn’s seat in the Senate. Talarico, 36, has been touted by Politico as “the next big thing in Texas politics.”
“He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” Colbert explained. “Then I was told in some uncertain terms that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”
This decision by CBS comes shortly after the Federal Communications Commission said it would start using the “equal time” rule for late-night TV. The FCC’s Brendan Carr announced on Jan. 21 that the commission had informed “legacy TV networks” they have an “obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities,” and that late-night talk shows that had previously been exempt from the rule no longer would be.
Earlier this month, the FCC launched a probe into ABC’s The View for having Talarico on the show.
Carr, who has regularly taken aim at hosts like Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, suggested that such talk shows operate out of “purely partisan political purposes.”
Addressing Carr, Colbert said, “I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself.” He also called the FCC’s investigation into The View “absolutely shocking.”
“Let’s just call this what it is. Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV because all Trump does is watch TV. Okay? He’s like a toddler with too much screen time. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diapers. So, it’s no surprise,” Colbert said.
“FCC you!” he joked.
In a defiant move, Colbert did have Talarico on his show. The Late Show circumvented the network’s guidance by instead airing Talarico’s interview exclusively on YouTube.
“I decided to take Brendan Carr’s advice,” Colbert told his guests. He said his network wouldn’t allow him to provide audiences with a QR code or even a link to his interview with Talarico.
“But I promise you if you go to our YouTube page, you’ll find it,” he said.
The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS for comment.
Colbert did not hold back in criticizing his network for the decision. He said that while Carr hasn’t entirely enforced the equal time notice for late-night television, his network is “unilaterally enforcing it as if he had.”
In July, CBS cancelled The Late Show, which Colbert has been hosting since 2015. The network said the show will wrap up in May 2026 and described the move as “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” though many believe the tense history between Colbert and Trump prompted the cancellation. Days before his show was cancelled, Colbert also happened to rip into Paramount, CBS’s parent company, for its $16 million settlement with the president last year.
The late-night host called it a “big fat bribe,” adding, “As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I’m offended, and I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company.”
In Talarico’s appearance on Colbert, the candidate torched Trump and the rising levels of censorship at the hands of the current administration.
“I think that Donald Trump is worried that we’re about to flip Texas, and, Stephen, this is the party that ran against cancel culture,” he said. “And now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read.”
“They went after ‘The View’ because I went on there. They went after Jimmy Kimmel for telling a joke they didn’t like. They went after you for telling the truth about Paramount’s bribe to Donald Trump,” he continued. “Corporate media executives are selling out the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians,” he said, calling this “a threat to all of our First Amendment rights.”
Colbert thanked Talarico for being the show’s first guest to appear only on YouTube. The representative said he was “honored.”
